ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. -- The U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command built yet another skill for military and civilians during resiliency training March 19 at Aberdeen Proving Ground as part of the Army's Ready and Resilient Campaign Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Program.
CSF2 is designed to build resilience and enhance performance of the Army Family by providing hands-on training and self-development tools to help cope with adversity, perform better in stressful situations, and thrive in life.
This month's resiliency skill was Detecting Icebergs led by one of ATEC's Resiliency trainers Sgt. 1st Class Jason Barrett, a military evaluator for the ATEC Army Evaluation Center.
CSF2 describes the 'Detecting Icebergs' as being core beliefs and values that fuel out-of-proportion emotions and reactions to a particular topic, and one's ability to evaluate the accuracy and usefulness of these beliefs.
Resiliency trainer, Master Sgt. Linwood Parker, described icebergs as being core values and beliefs in oneself that may cause a person to overact to a particular situation. The skill really gets to the heart of understanding what makes us tick and why, so we may have more influence over how we respond to upsetting situations.
"Detecting icebergs helps build self-awareness," Barrett said. "Knowing that an iceberg has been activated, it gives us control over our emotions and reactions."
Barrett challenged the class to exercise their ability to regulate their emotions by understanding what and why they exist as a way to gain control over seemingly out-of-proportion reactions.
As part of the training, the class was encourage to ask themselves the 'what' questions, not the 'why' Barrett said, "Asking 'why' [something upsets you] makes you stay on the surface of your emotional response, which can make people feel defensive and want to defend their actions. However, asking 'what' makes you dig deeper to find a core belief or value as being reason behind the action."
"Without this skill, one runs the risk of undermining performance, effectiveness and successful communications with colleagues, families and friends," said Parker. "So often, we as Army Professionals are asked to make split-second decisions, and in some cases, life or death decisions. Understanding our core values and beliefs will help us navigate through those decisions and maintain control over our personal and professional relationships under stressful conditions."
The class had an opportunity to detect their own icebergs and to capture Heat-of-the-Moment Thoughts to bring together as a group to reflect on them.
"It's not always learning about how to change yourself, it's how to approach the conversations," Barrett said.
The next training session will also be led by Barrett, scheduled for 9 a.m., Thursday, April 9, APG North (Aberdeen) recreation center, that will focus on the resiliency skill of Problem Solving. The make-up session for this class is set for 9 a.m., Thursday, April 23.
To get more information about ATEC's Ready and Resilient Campaign, visit http://www.atec.army.mil/r2c. To learn more about the Army's Ready and Resilient Campaign, visit www.army.mil.readyandresilient.
Related Links:
The U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command Homepage
The U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command Ready and Resilient Campaign Homepage
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